Transposing key-board for musical i nstru m ents



(No Model.) 3 Sheets--Sheet 1`.

A. LARSSON.

TRANSPQSING KEY BOARD FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. No. 339,906 Patented Apr. 13, 1886.4

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A. LARssoN. TRANSPOSING KEY BOARD POR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. No. 339,906. PatentedApr. 1s, 1886.

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No Model.) 3 sheets-sheet 3.

A. LARSSON.

TRANSPOSING KEY BOARD POR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. No. 339,906A Patented Apr. 13, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDERS LARSSON, OF CHESTERTON, INDIANA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Application filed October 20, 1884.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDEEs LAEssoN, a subject of the King of Sweden and Norway, and residing at Chesterton, in the county of Porter and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Transposing Devices for Musical Instruments,which are fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a front elevation of a musical instrument embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a sectional view of the same on the line w .t of Fig. l; Fig. 3, a detail plan view of a reedorgan mechanism, the key-board being removed; Fig. 4, a sectional view on the line y y of Fig. 3, the key-board being in place; Fig. 5, a detail front elevation showing one end of the key-board and its support. Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9 are detail views of the indicator. Fig. 10 is a plan view with the key-board removed, showing the application of my device to a piano or pipe-organ; Fig. 11, asectional view on the line e' of Fig. 10 with the key-board in place, and Fig. 12 a similar .sectional view on the the line o c of Fig. IO.

Like letters refer to like parts in all the Iigures.

My invention relates to transposing devices for musical instruments, the object being to permit the music to be written and played in one key in which its mechanical execution is easy-such as the key of 0, for instancewhile the tones produced will be those of any key desired; and, further, to permit the trans posing of music written in one key into any other desired key; and to that end it consists in certain novel features, which I will now preceed to describe, and then specifically point out in the claims.

In Figs. l to 9, inclusive, of the drawings, I have represented my improvement as applied to an ordinary reed-organ, in which A indicates a reed-organ case of ordinary construction, having in it the usual bellows, B, and wind-chest C.

D indicates the reed-cells, formed in a piece, D, and d the reeds located therein, the passage between the reed cells-and wind-chest being closed by spring-actuated valves D2. Pins or pegs E, supported in the piece D' and in a Patent No. 339,906, dated April 13, 1886.

Serial No. 146,026. (No model.)

guide, E', above the same, through both of which they pass loosely, rest upon the valve, D2, and when depressed open the same. Any suitably-constructed organ mechanism having these upright pins to operate the valves may be used instead of the particular one shown.

Mounted upon suitable ways, f, at each end of the rows of pins E, is the movable key-board F. In the present instance these ways are shown as secured to blocks IW, mounted on the valve-board F2, the said blocks having a raised central partition, F3, to which guide-arms F* are attached, the end pieces of the key-board frame being cut away at f to fit over the same. The key-board can thus be readily raised or lowered and moved along the ways f, being steadied in this movement by the guide-arms F. This movement is eectuated by means of a pendent arm, G, rigidly attached to the front of the key-board frame, and passing down between the front proper of the case and the false front G, where it can be operated by the knee of the performer.

The keys G2 are mounted on the key-board in any usual manner, being shown as pivoted at their rear ends and guided at the front by fixed pins g2, and having stops g3, normally held against a suitable projection, G3, on the key-board frame by springs g. In order to regulate the movement of the key-board, I

attach to one corner thereof a notched plate, g, the notches in which are the same distance apart as the pins E, the said notches catching on a plate orilnger, g, attached to one of the blocks F, as shown in Fig. 5.

To disengage the key-board, it is only necessary to raise it very slightly, which may be done by pressure of the knee against the arm G, when it may be moved in either direction.

Of course each time the key-board is moved the distance of one notch in the plate g there is a change of one semitoue in the key in which the music is played.

Although a short key-board and only six notches in the plate g are shown in the drawings as sufiicient to indicate the principle of my device, in practice a full-sized key-board will be employed, and the plate g will be provided with twelve notches, corresponding with the twelve semitones of the diatonic scale.

For the purpose of indicating the real key,

ICO

and also 'the number of spaces which the keyboard has been moved, I employ the indicator-shown in Figs. l and 2, and in detail in Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9, in which H represents a rack-bar secured to the rear edge of the keyboard frame, and meshing with the pin gearteeth h at the rear end of a cylinder, H', mounted on a suitable shaft, h', and having at its front end a disk, H2. On the face of this disk are arranged, near its periphery, a'series of letters indicating the semitones of the scale, this series occupying one-half of the circle, while the remaining half is occupied by corresponding numbers arranged diametrically opposite the letters. In the drawings only five of each are shown to illustrate the principle; but in practice all the semitones will be indicated, as well as the corresponding twelve numbers. In the naine-board, or in a plate, H3, set therein, are two apertures, h2 h3, so arranged that through the upper aperture, h2, one ofthe letters on the plate H2 will be visible, while its corresponding number will be visible through the lower aperture, h3.

In consequence of the above constructioneach time the key-board is moved the rackbar H will rotate the disk to show the tonic of the key in which the music will sound at that position of the key-board, and also the number of semitones that intervene between the real key and the key in which the music is being played on the key-board.

In order to indicate the effective work of the bellows, I attach to the front end of the shaft h' an index-finger, I, which, in conjunction with ascale, I', on the plate H3, indicates the amount of air in the wind-chest and bellows. This is accomplished by attaching to the shaft H' or to a pulley thereon a .cord or chain, i, connected to the bottom of the bellows at the rear, and also another cord or chain, i', connected to a spring, I2. Upon depressing the lever which operates the bellows the rear end rises, and the cord i becomes slack, permitting the spring I'l to unwind the cord 11' from the shaft h', thus turning the said shaft, and the index-finger I travels around the scale I', showing the position of the bellows, and thereby the amount of vacuum in the windchest. As the air rushes in to iill this vacuum, the rear end of the bellows descends, pulling down the cord t, which has been Wound around the shaft by the unwinding of the other cord, i', and thus rotates the shaft h' in the opposite direction, bringing the index-finger I back to the zero of the scale I', where it arrives when the bellows and wind-chest are full of air and consequently inoperative.

In the above construction my device has been described as applied to a reed-organ; but it is evident that the same may be applied to a piano or pipe-organ, or, indeed, to any musical instrument of that general description. In Figs. l0, 11, and 12 I have shown the same as applied to a piano and pipe-organ. At the left of Fig. l0, and in Figs. 1l and 12, the pins E are shown as resting on levers or keys J, pivoted at j, guided by pins j', and operated by springs J' to return them to their normal position after being depressed by the pins E. These keys or levers are connected by any of the usual and well-known mechanisms with the hammers, in order to operate the same to bring them in' contact with the strings. In the pipeorgan shown to the right of Fig. 10 thepins E lower the valves K to open them and permit the air in the wind-chest to enter the passages k, which lead to the pipes'K'. Of vcourse the key-board and its indicator are mounted in the same relative position to the pins E in these instruments as they are in the construction previously described.

I have shown the upper portion, L, of the false front as hinged at Z, so as to swing down to allow inspection of and access to the front of the device. The upper portion, M, of the back is similarly hinged for a like purpose, and is held in place, when closed, by a turnbutton, m. A

It is obvious that various mechanical modiiications in the construction and application of my device may be made without departing from the principle of my invention, and I therefore do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise details of construction shown and described.

I am aware that a laterally-movable keyboard for use as a transposing device for musical instruments is not new. I, am also aware that heretofore indicators for showing the true key and the number of spaces which the keyboard has been moved have been employed in conjunction with such key-boards. I am also aware that an indicator for the purpose of showing the atmospheric pressure has been employed heretofore. I do not therefore wish to be understood as claiming any one of these features, broadly, my present invention relating to the specific-construction set forth in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with the laterally-adjustable key-board F, of the blocks F', having ways f and guide-arms F*, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination, with the disk H2, having the opposite series of letters and numbers, as described, and mechanism, as set forth, for operating the same, of the perforations h h3, arranged as described, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. The combination, with the disk H2 and cylinder H', and mechanism, as described, for operating the same, of the shaft h', on which they are loosely mounted, the cord 'L'. attached to said shaft and 'to the bellows B, the cord i', attached to said shaft and to spring I2, the index-finger I, and scale I', substantially as and fQr the purposes set forth.

4. The combination, with the plate H5, hav- IIO ing fipertures if h, and scale l', of the disk Hf", I i i', attached to said shaft; and to the bellows having the series of letters and numbers, and f B and spring I2, respectively, substantially as ro shaft h, having` index-nger I and meehauand for the purposes specified.

ism substantially as described for operubin@ T e i theysaid disk and shaft, substzintally as an l AB DELS LARSSON' for the purposes specified. Vvltnesses:

5. The combination, with the scale I', of the IRvINE MILLER, shaft 7L', having index-finger I, and the cords A. M. BEST. 

